Brett Pollock only has two goals and six points in 17 games so far. Not exactly the numbers I'd have expected for a 2nd round pick who was great offensively in juniors and who has the size to play pro hockey. Hopefully just growing pains in his first pro season, but he'd better pick it up at some point.

Took him until game 6 to break .900 save percentage, but has cracked that 4 of the last 5 now.

Overall he's 6-2-1 with a 2.48 GAA and a 0.896 save percentage
To compare, the other goalie Ken Appleby is 4-1-0 with a 1.98 GAA and a 0.915 save percentage

McDonald is such a long bomb. He's going to get starts and he's going get tons and tons of hours. It's just a matter of if someone can work him into a star. He's adaptive and he's huge and athletic, but he's not a natural talent/raw skill player, it's going to take a lot of work to make an NHL goalie out of him.

Fortunately with all spaces above him full and the ECHL a great place to wade into professional hockey, he's going to receive all the development/training/game situations you could ask for.

The ECHL all star game was held last night in Glens Falls. They do a little bit of a different format than the NHL/AHL where they have the ECHL all stars play against the host team Adirondack Thunder (which is probably to boost ticket sales more than anything).

Thunder lost 8-7, which is nothing to draw any conclusions off of as it is an all star game.

But one interesting thing was Flames prospect Falkovsky's shot was clocked at 99 miles per hour. He won the hardest shot competition.

Adirondack Thunder defenseman Stepan Falkovsky is your Thermal Associates Player of the Week! Falkovsky led all Thunder skaters with four goals and six points last week, including a career-high four points in Saturday's win over Elmira. The 6-7 blueliner followed up with two more goals, including the game winner, in Sunday's win over the Jackals.

"His shot is his greatest attribute and his skill with the puck - he's very skilled when he's got the puck. Not only can he shoot but he can make plays in tight areas. He's a skilled hockey player and the exciting thing is he's a very large, powerful player at the same time. That makes for a pretty good recipe."

Falkovsky's skating is his other major asset. He moves extremely well for a player who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs in at 224 pounds.

"The thing that is really exceptional with him is the use of his edges," MacLean explained. "He's a player that has good hip mobility and he can really escape by opening his hips up and using the inside edges of his skates. He's not clunky for big man. He's smooth and he's got that ability to escape.

"Then you combine that with the long reach and some good hands … he can be pretty effective at possessing the puck and finding ways to make his plays, something more effective than a simple chip off the glass."

__________________Until the Flames make the Western Finals again, this signature shall remain frozen.

They mention it at the end of the article as an area they are working with him on. It's only a few sentences but it gives the impression that he's got some work to do in becoming a more effective defender.